Cardinal George Pell knew enough to conclude that more serious action should have been taken against a paedophile priest, according to counsel assisting the child sex abuse royal commission.

In their submission to the royal commission, published on Monday, counsel assisting Gail Furness SC and Stephen Free urged the commission to reject evidence from Australia's highest ranking Catholic that he had been intentionally deceived about former Doveton priest Peter Searson.

Victoria Police are expected to announce charges against Cardinal George Pell on Thursday.

Cardinal Pell, who testified to the commission in March via video link from Rome, said he was told about Searson's bizarre behaviour in 1989, when he was an auxiliary bishop. But he said the reports of Searson abusing animals and going to the children's toilets were not enough for him to act and that it was not his responsibility to investigate the priest.

He also said allegations against Searson had been kept from him by the Catholic Education Office, but claims of a cover up were denied by former Catholic officials who testified before the royal commission earlier this year.

In their written submission, Ms Furness and Mr Free said that there was no evidence the CEO intentionally concealed information it received about Searson. It urged the royal commission to find that the CEO "had no motive to deceive Cardinal Pell and did not do so".

"It is submitted that the commission should reject Cardinal Pell's evidence that officers of the CEO intentionally deceived him and did so for the reasons suggested by Cardinal Pell," they said.

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"Those CEO officers, who are available to give evidence about these matters, gave evidence to the effect that they had no interest in deceiving Cardinal Pell or in trying to protect Searson. That evidence should be accepted. It is generally consistent with other evidence available to the Royal Commission."

Peter Searson was parish priest at Holy Family church in Doveton. Photo: Penny Stephens

They included that he carried a handgun at school, killed animals, showed children a body in a coffin and frequented the boys toilets. The royal commission has heard he would tape "hot" confessions with children and in 1993 Searson admitted holding a large knife to a child's chest.

In their submission, Ms Furness and Mr Free said that a list of grievances about Searson and an allegation of sexual misconduct against him, both referred to Cardinal Pell, were "sufficient that he ought reasonably have concluded that more serious action needed to be taken".

"It was incumbent on Cardinal Pell, having regard to his responsibilities as Auxiliary Bishop, including for the welfare of children in the parish, to take such action as he could to advocate that Searson be removed or suspended, or, at least, that a thorough investigation be undertaken. While the authority to remove Searson from his role as parish priest lay with the Archbishop, Cardinal Pell had direct access to the Archbishop, including through the Curia," the submission said.

"Cardinal Pell should also have taken direct action of his own to investigate the veracity of the complaints, in particular the allegation of sexual misconduct. His failure to take any such action meant that Cardinal Pell, like other senior officials in the Archdiocese before and after him, missed an important opportunity to recognise and deal with the serious risks posed by Searson. Cardinal Pell and other senior Archdiocesan officials failed to exercise proper care for the children of Doveton."

Last year, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said there was a "complete failure" of processes in the Melbourne Archdiocese when dealing with child sex abuse complaints, and described as "just a horror story" allegations in Doveton.

"I have just been totally appalled by the extent and the depravity of the offenders and the suffering and ruination of lives of the survivors," he told the royal commission at the time.

According to Archbishop Hart, the failure stemmed from the office of Cardinal Pell's predecessor, Archbishop Frank Little.

He said it did not include Cardinal Pell, who was Melbourne archbishop from 1996 to 2001, but that he would have expected him to have had an "adequate degree of knowledge" of what was happening in Doveton, where a succession of paedophile priests were sent over three decades.

Searson's faculties as a priest were removed in 1998, but he died in 2009 before facing any child sex charges. The church has paid almost $300,000 to his victims.